Kevin Kouzmanoff
Kouzmanoff isn’t getting much coverage this year for obvious reasons – the Padres are terrible and Kouzmanoff has been consistently average at best. Saturday, Kouzmanoff was 1-for-3 with an RBI single and is now hitting .277/.322/.442, but .308/.369/.488 in July. Like many Padres, Kouzmanoff has been hurt by his home park, losing 61 points of OPS at Petco versus road parks. Of more concern though: a 0.18 EYE and 3.6% BB/PA rate (6% last year), indicating that Kouzmanoff has regressed a bit this year. The Padres have holes all around the diamond (with the exception of first base), but one eventual option could be to move Chase Headley back to third base if Kouzmanoff’s struggles continue. That probably won’t happen any time soon as there are worse third baseman.
Wandy Rodriguez
I’ve never been much of a fan of sub-six foot pitchers carrying as much weight as an Olympic gymnast, but Wandy Rodriguez won me over a bit on Saturday. His stuff looked sharp and he was able to work the corners efficiently enough to strike out seven Cubs while allowing just one run on nine hits over 6 2/3 innings. That’s a lot of hits, but the only real mistake Rodriguez made was to Carlos Zambrano, who accounted for the only run off him with a solo homer. The strikeouts jumped his K/9 to 8.0 on the year compared to 7.0 for his career. We’ll never see Rodriguez develop into an ace (the stuff isn’t there), but for a Houston rotation devoid of much hope beyond Roy Oswalt (who’s now hurt), Rodriguez is a valuable piece.
Ivan Ochoa
You don’t pay us for analysis along the lines of “Albert Pujols had three hits today and is in line for a strong second half” or “Prince Fielder’s home run today gives him six in July and he’s probably going to hit a lot more the rest of the way”. Instead, meet the anti-Pujols, a guy that most non-diehard Giants fans have never heard of: Ivan Ochoa. No, that’s not the Russian steroid freak who fought Rocky Balboa in “Rocky IV”. This is a 25 year-old Venezuelan who’s competing for at-bats on the “we’ll play anyone with a pulse” Giants. Ochoa brings really one main tool to the table: speed. In the minors, Ochoa stole 168 bases, an average of 39 per 550 at-bats while posting a modest .255/.338/.324 batting line (yes, he has no power). Ochoa really blossomed for Triple-A Fresno this year however, batting .318/.399/.445 with a PCL-induced six homers and 20 steals in 84 games. With Omar Vizquel leaving with another injury Saturday, perhaps the Giants will give Ochoa a few more at-bats. At some point, the Giants have to at least consider benching retreads like Vizquel and Ray Durham, but we’ve been saying that for awhile now, so Ochoa’s best hope may be that Vizquel is hurt.
Ian Stewart
Chance number two for Ian Stewart, who was recalled from Triple-A on Saturday. We have to assume that the Rockies will actually play him a bit this time. Stewart should get some time at third base (with Garrett Atkins at first filling in for the injured Todd Helton) and they’d be best served by seeing how he’d fare defensively at second base where his bat would play quite well. Since returning to Triple-A after cup of coffee #1, Stewart has hit .279 with seven homers in 86 at-bats. For the year in Triple-A, he’s at .280/.372/.607 playing half his games in a Coors-like atmosphere (Colorado Springs). Dig a little deeper though and you realize that he’s been pretty solid on the road as well, hitting 13 of his 19 homers away from home. Stewart had a 28:3 K:BB in 55 major league at-bats, so obviously a sub-50% CT% isn’t going to cut it, but there’s still quite a bit of potential here.
Anibal Sanchez
Remember this guy? Sanchez gained some measure of notoriety for his inclusion along with Hanley Ramirez in the trade with Boston involving Josh Beckett and salary dump / future World Series MVP Mike Lowell. Sanchez gained more fame by tossing baseball’s first no-hitter in 2 ½ years in 2006 against Arizona. Then unfortunately Sanchez got hurt (shoulder) and hasn’t been heard from since. Well, he’s about back. Sanchez will have one final rehab start on Wednesday before joining the Florida rotation on or around July 28. Sanchez has a 2.57 ERA in four rehab starts, but pitchers’ success following labrum surgery is spotty at best, so temper your expectations at first. He’s probably more of a 2009 guy at this point.
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